My parents have some in their room at their lovely care home - they bloomed and bloomed and bloomed, then bloomed no more - someone cut the stems right down and now, some months on, they've sent up new stems and are blooming again

Don't worry, I did this when I had my first phalaenopsis and it didn't flower again for 2 years. Now it's constantly flowering Be sure to keep it somewhere with plenty of natural light but not in direct sunlight as I did (it scorched the leaves) and given time it should flower again. I think they go into shock for a while and need time to settle into new situations but they really are a lot more resilient than people think.....pretty much have to be to survive in my house!

Don't repot using compost, they need a special medium. If you've only had it a couple of years it's actually unlikely to need repotting anyway.

You didn't do the wrong thing in cutting the flower stem back. There are differing opinions on how far you should cut back. Some people say cut back about 1/3rd, others to within a node or 2 of the base and either will work. As you cut right back it may well take longer to throw out new flower stems but they will happen. Once all risk of frost is gone put them outside and mist spray them once a week. That worked for ours and nearly all of them flowered again last year.

Barbara, was it you who started the other orchid thread? I posted some pics of my white one last week, have a look. After an initial flourish of flowers it stopped, I nearly threw it away but instead just left it and a few months later it had a baby shoot and new flowers.

Orchids like it have roots everywhere, they are tropical plants that grow in bit humid climates on trees (possibly in the Amazon but I can't remember exactly).

As KT53 said, they need special orchid compost and also I use an spray feed, they prefer no being sprayed to actually watered in the conventional way.

Not the best quality pics but I wanted you to see them to give you encouragement. The white one is the one that stopped flowering, notice the roots on it, this is fine and is really happy.

The pink one really needs repotting but it started flowering again before I managed to do it and you aren't meant to repot when they are flowering, the leaves and flowers are smaller than usual though and this is probably why.

I realise that after I wrote it Barbara and checked, but have bumped it up for you as some quite useful info on it, hope it has helped. I don't really know much about gardening and plants in the garden so can't usually offer advice, (hence the name Newbie!), Orchids are the one thing I have learnt a bit about so am glad to help

Here is a hand out produced by our nursery. The key to getting your orchid to re-flower is to look after it properly. They arnt too fussy but there is definatly a few things you can do to promote new flowering growth. Hope it helps

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CLEEVE NURSERY, CLEEVE, BRISTOL BS49 4PW

Tel. 01934 832134

Tips on Orchid Growing

Orchids are split into very many different genus groups and within these there are very many species.

The most popular orchids sold in garden centres are Phalaenopsis, (Moth orchid). Dendrobium, (Bamboo orchid) and Cymbidium.

Phalaenopsis, (Moth orchid)

These are the easiest and most reliable orchids to grow and can flower up three times a year in any season. They are showy and the flowers can last for many weeks. The flower stems erupt from between beautiful dark glossy green leaves.

Cultivation

This plant likes a semi-shaded spot with bright light but no scorching sun.

They grow continuously throughout the year oldest leaves being replaced as they die and often followed by a new flowering cycle.

They do prefer a nighttime temperature of 15oC and up to a maximum of 30oC in the day, so a heated conservatory or centrally heated houses suite them well. This day/night temperature change is essential to promote flowering.

Humidity is an essential element to these orchids growth so placing plants on a saucer of moist pebbles will help, so too will a morning spray of rainwater on warm bright days.

Watering of this orchid should be based on keeping them moist but never wet. Water once a week in summer, less in winter using tepid rainwater when ever possible into the top of the pot, avoiding the crown. Do not allow the plant to sit in water. Should the growing conditions be nearer the upper range then more water may be required.

Feed your orchid plant once a month with a balanced fertiliser at quarter strength. Or use a specific orchid fertiliser such as made by BabyBio or Maxicrop following the application rates on the label.

Careful cutting of the flower stem as the last flower fades, but no sooner or later, as the new branch will not develop. This can sometimes encourage extra flowers. Cut above t

Ahh.. If its producing new leaves, cutting the stem right off was the right thing to do. The plant tends to do one of two things after flowering. One would be to produce a new flush of flowers, the other would be for it to create new leaves. To tell what the plant wants to do, you can usually tell by looking at the main stem or stems. If the nodes below the last flower are green and plump, the likely hood is that in the next maybe 3/4 months, a new shoot should appear. If the nodes are brown however, its usually an indication that the plant would like to produce new leaves. So if the nodes were brown, i'd cut them off an inch from the base of the stem leaving room for die back. If the nodes are green however, i would cut off the top of the stem to the healthiest looking node near the top of the stem and i would do this as soon as the last flower starts to die.. I do this in our garden center. Last trimmed a load around christmas, the ones i thought would flower again have just began to produce a new flower spike from the first node.

I'll leave you in the hands if the expert Barbara, didn't realise dirty diggin worked in the garden centre that produced the leaflet and was just trying to help. I'm no expert I just know what I do from experience and chatting to people at southport flower show. Good luck with it x

If there is a china pot you would like to use, id reccomend keeping the orchid in its own plastic pot as they usually have very good dranage which is necesery for a healthy orchid but i would put that inside the pot of your choice. That way you can take it out to water it easly and you can keep an eye on the condition of the roots. (So a pot inside a pot) The reason why some orchid pots are often transparent is apparently to promote the photosynthsis of small algae which help the roots remain moist & bring in nutrience for the plant